Broken Toy
by Pharaoh-Ink
Summary: An alternate ending to the events of 'Toy With Me.'


" _Jacky, listen to me..._ " Came her pleading voice, but he didn't hear it anymore.

She was shocked to see her ex-boyfriend standing on her porch, in full costume after traipsing all over the city, terrorizing people and doing horrible things she couldn't even fathom. She'd seen him in states of mania before, but this had been deeper, darker, far more out of control, and she knew things with Mr. Banana Brain and Quackwerks really hadn't helped the situation.

He'd been making so much progress though. She could see it. She knew a side of him that he didn't give away to just anyone, it had to be earned, entrusted, and she thought she'd taken care not to hurt him.

She had been wrong.

When she tried to explain what she had done, in finding his old doll again, as good as new, and imparting it to Darkwing- that had been the final straw for the madman.

He had pushed his way inside, yelling at her, making wild accusations that she had only wanted to have him caught, that she never truly cared, that her desperate attempt of appealing to him through his beloved creation had been a low blow.

"Why are you angry with me?!" She felt so small in the wake of his anger, and normal soothing words to diffuse most escalating arguments didn't seem to be working with this one. "Haven't I shown you how much I respect you?! I stood up for you in Quackwerks when everyone wanted to keep you out of the loop! I defended your toy ideas! I care about you, I care about you a lot! And you can't see that even now?"

"You knew which of those stiff collar stuck-ups were talking behind my back, and you never once told me! You just let me feel like a fool, for your entertainment! That's all Jacky's good for these days, isn't it?! _Good ol' family friendly fun_! Well not anymore, Claire. You want me to get with the times, like the rest of them? I can be just as cruel and violent and AWFUL as the rest of reality seems to want to be!" He snarled, moving to close the gap between them.

"I don't want that at all!" She protested, backing away, wildly stumbling. "I love you just the way you are-" She felt tears pricking at her eyes as she held up a hand to the advancing lunatic.

He seemed to stop for a moment, taking in her face, her wide, innocent eyes filled with confusion, sadness, compassion...and...

Ah.

There it was.

 _Fear.  
_  
She was afraid of him.

The one person he had thought he could ever trust, or start to, and she was staring him down as if he were a wild animal ready to pounce.

Wasn't that what he wanted though? He hadn't ever been taken seriously. He was never a villain worth any salt, Negaduck had made that clear. The public had shoved aside his ideas, his passion, and replaced him with mindless, senseless video games, which they greedily lapped up in exchange for letting someone else do the thinking for them.

He had thought maybe Quackwerks might have been a new start. But it had only ever been a distraction. _She_ had only been a distraction. A diversion from his usual fun and games. She loved the idea of what he _could_ be, if he turned from this life, if he let go of his anger, if he went straight and settled into boring, bland, dull colors, dreaming of better tomorrows and dying before he'd ever find one.

He could never abandon what he had built for himself. It was a crumbling empire, but it was his. It was all he had left.

He reached out, daring to touch her cheek, to slide a finger across the trail of tears in an affectionate gesture he had practiced often with her. Diversion or not, she had been one of the lighter points of his life. The stirring in his heart must have accounted for something to support that.

"I'm sorry Claire..." He managed, with a weak smile, his own eyes filling with tears, and he reached into his pocket, pulling out the device he'd brought with him.

She opened her mouth in protest, but no sound ever came.

In a flash of light, she had gone from cowering against the wall to fitting in the palm of his hand, button eyes staring up at him.

"...But this is the best I'll _ever_ be."


End file.
